Jupiter Green Investment Trust PLC
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Jupiter Green Investment Trust PLC AGM update
Chairman Michael Naylor and Portfolio Manager Jon Wallace provide an update for Shareholders on the Jupiter Green Investment Trust PLC.
Please click here to attend the virtual AGM.
AGM
In light of the fact that we are holding an open meeting but recognise some shareholders might be reluctant to travel in this environment, we are pleased to be able to provide a facility for shareholders to follow the AGM remotely and submit questions to the board on the business of the meeting.
How to join the virtual meeting
You will need to visit https://webcast.openbriefing.com/jupiter-agm21/ using your smartphone, tablet or computer. You will then be prompted to enter your unique 11 digit Investor Code (IVC) including any leading zeros and ‘PIN’. Your PIN is the last 4 digits of your IVC. This will authenticate you as a shareholder.
Your IVC can be found on your share certificate, or Signal Shares users (www.signalshares.com) will find this under ‘Manage your account’ when logged in to the Signal Shares portal. You can also obtain this by contacting Link, our Registrar, by calling +44 (0) 371 277 1020*
Access to the AGM will be available from 30 mins before start of event although you will not be able to submit questions until the meeting is declared open.
If you wish to appoint a proxy other than the Chair of the meeting and for them to attend the virtual meeting on your behalf, please submit your proxy appointment in the usual way before contacting Link Group on +44 (0) 371 277 1020* in order to obtain their IVC and PIN. It is suggested that you do this as soon as possible and at least 48 hours (excluding non-business days) before the meeting.
If your shares are held within a nominee and you wish to attend the electronic meeting, you will need to contact your nominee as soon as possible. Your nominee will need to present a corporate letter of representation to Link Group, our registrar, as soon as possible and at least 72 hours (excluding non-business days) before the meeting, in order that they can obtain for you your unique IVC and PIN to enable you to attend the electronic meeting.
*Lines are open from 9.00 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. Monday to Friday, calls are charged at the standard geographic rate and will vary by provider. Calls outside the UK will be charged at the applicable international rate.
Overview
Please bear in mind that all investments involve risk and the value of, and any potential income from, your investment may fluctuate and are not guaranteed.
The Company’s portfolio has a bias towards small and medium capitalisation companies. It invests primarily in securities which are quoted, listed or traded on a recognised exchange. However, up to 5 per cent of the Company’s Total Assets (at the time of such investment) may be invested in unlisted securities.
Jupiter Asset Management Limited, as the Company’s Investment Adviser, selects each stock on its individual merits as an investment rather than replicating the relevant company’s weighting within the Company’s benchmark index. The Company’s investment portfolio is therefore unlikely to represent the constituents of its benchmark index, but instead is intended to offer a well diversified investment strategy focused on maximising returns from the prevailing economic background.
The Investment Adviser may enter into contracts for differences in order to gain both long and short exposure for the Company to indices, sectors, baskets of individual securities for both investment purposes and for hedging or efficient portfolio management purposes. The ability to maintain a portfolio of both long and short positions provides the flexibility to hedge against periods of falling markets, to reduce the risk of absolute loss at portfolio level and to reduce the volatility of portfolio returns. The portfolio manager may also invest in single stock, sector and equity index futures and options.
Risk is also mitigated by investing mainly in quoted companies on registered exchanges, ensuring full regulatory compliance for all underlying quoted investments. There are no specific stock and sector size limitations within the portfolio, but the individual portfolio manager is expected to provide sufficient stock, sector and geographic diversification to ensure an appropriate trade-off between risk and return within the portfolio. In order to ensure compliance with this objective there is a two tier monitoring system. First, the individual portfolio manager’s portfolio is assessed monthly by the Jupiter Asset Management Limited Performance Committee, which is headed by the Chief Executive of Jupiter Asset Management Limited. Secondly, the Board is provided with a detailed analysis of stock, sector and geographic exposures at the Trust’s regular Board meetings.
Any material change in the investment policy of the Company described above may only be made with the approval of Shareholders by an ordinary resolution.
Our approach to sustainable solutions investing focuses on seven themes:
- Circular economy – solutions for sustainable materials and resource stewardship
- Clean energy – generation, storage and distribution
- Water – conservation and management
- Mobility – technologies and services for sustainable movement
- Energy efficiency – enabling a low carbon transition
- Sustainable agriculture, nutrition and health – solutions protecting natural resources and well-being
- Environmental services – pollution control, testing and impact management
The longstanding experience of the team shows that companies focused on solutions in these themes typically fall into one of three ‘lifecycle’ stages:
- Innovators – typically smaller and nascent companies with new and disruptive solutions that have high potential sales growth but are yet to gain mass market traction
- Accelerators – mid and large-cap companies that are delivering on their sales growth potential with accelerating market traction of already proven and scalable products and services.
- Established Leaders -typically larger companies with longstanding products and services in their market, lower levels of sales growth, but a greater potential to return capital to shareholders through dividends.”
Key literature
Performance report
Announcements
3rd party sources info
Third party sources of information on the Company
Research:
Investment Trust Intelligence – Investment Research
Data:
JUPITER GREEN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC JGC Stock | London Stock Exchange
FE investegate – Recent Regulatory News Announcements to the London Stock Exchange for Jupiter Green Investment Trust PLC
The Association of Investment Companies
Morningstar – Investment Trusts – Prices, Performance, Education, Research.
How to buy:
Hargreaves Lansdown – Pricing and analysis for Jupiter Green Investment Trust PLC
Interactive Investor – Comment and analysis
These links are provided for your convenience and Jupiter accepts no responsibility for the content of such websites.
Dividend installment plan
Dividend Reinvestment Plan
Shareholders may elect for the company’s registrar, Link Asset Services, to reinvest dividends automatically on their behalf.
Signal shares also allows you to manage your shareholding online. If you are a direct investor you can view your shareholding, change the way the registrar communicates with you or the way you receive your dividends, and buy and sell shares. If you haven’t used this service before, all you need to do is enter the name of the company and register your account. You’ll need your Investor code (IVC) printed on your share certificate in order to register.
*Calls to this number are charged at the standard geographical rate and will vary by provider. Calls outside of the United Kingdom will be charged at the applicable international rate. Lines are open from 09.00 – 17.30 Monday to Friday. 3rd party calls may be recorded.
**Links are provided for your convenience and Jupiter accepts no responsibility for the content of such websites.
Annual Financial Results for the year ended 31 March 2021
Jupiter Green Investment Trust plc (‘the company’)
Legal Entity Identifier: 549300MFRCR13CT1L845
Annual Financial Results for the year ended 31 March 2021
Financial Highlights for the year ended 31 March 2021
Capital Performance | As at | As at |
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| 31.03.21 | 31.03.20 |
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Total assets less current liabilities (£’000) | 53,304 | 32,581 |
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Ordinary Share Performance | As at | As at |
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| 31.03.21 | 31.03.20 | % change |
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Mid-market price (p) | 264.00 | 160.50 | +64.5 |
Undiluted net asset value per ordinary share▲ | 266.73 | 173.31 | +53.9 |
Undiluted net asset value per ordinary share (p) |
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(with dividend paid of 1.3p added back: 2020 2.3p) ▲ | 268.03 | 175.61 | +52.6 |
Diluted net asset value per ordinary share | 258.24 | 173.31 | +49.0 |
Diluted net asset value per ordinary share(p)(with dividend paid of 1.3p added back: 2020 2.3p) | 259.54 | 175.61 | +47.8 |
MSCI World Small Cap Index*** | 401.82 | 249.58 | +61.0 |
Discount to net asset value (%)▲ | 1.02 | 7.39 |
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Ongoing charges ratio (%) excluding finance costs ▲ | 1.73 | 1.59 | +8.8 |
Performance (excluding dividend income) Since Launch
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| Year- |
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| on-year |
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| Net asset |
| change in | Year- |
| Total assets | value | Dividends | Net Asset | on-year |
| less | per | declared per | Value per | change in |
| current | ordinary | ordinary | ordinary | benchmark |
Year ended 31 March | liabilities | share | share | share | index*** |
| £’000 | p | p | % | % |
8 June 2006 (launch) | 24,297 | 97.07 | – | – | – |
2007 | 31,679 | 118.07 | – | +22.3* | – |
2008 | 52,734 | 114.14 | – | -3.9** | – |
2009 | 33,809 | 76.86 | – | -32.7 | -36.5 |
2010 | 43,590 | 106.65 | – | +38.8 | +41.6 |
2011 | 41,085 | 120.49 | 0.40 | +13.0 | +11.0 |
2012 | 36,181 | 108.49 | 0.60 | -10.0 | -23.8 |
2013 | 37,571 | 124.42 | 1.20 | +14.7 | +10.3 |
2014 | 38,142 | 145.00 | 1.10 | +16.5 | +28.6 |
2015 | 38,545 | 152.35 | 0.55 | +5.1 | +10.6 |
2016 | 33,418 | 150.79 | 0.65 | -1.0 | -3.3 |
2017 | 38,509 | 184.33 | 1.20 | +22.2 | +28.4 |
2018 | 40,147 | 191.31 | 1.30 | +3.8 | +3.7 |
2019 | 35,934 | 188.70 | 2.20 | -1.4 | +6.0 |
2020 | 32,581 | 173.31 | 2.40 | -8.2 | +3.4 |
2021 | 53,304 | 266.73^ | 0.64† | +53.9 | +61.0 |
* In September 2006, new ordinary shares totalling 1,058,859 were issued and in November 2006, new ordinary shares totalling 600,000 were issued. Investment performance adjusted for the new issues of Ordinary shares.
** In April, July and August 2007, new ordinary shares totalling 20,249,074 were issued and a total of 737,963 ordinary shares were cancelled in March 2008. Investment performance adjusted for the new issues and the subsequent cancellation of shares.
*** With effect from 2 September 2020 the company retrospectively changed its benchmark from the FTSE ET100 Total Return Index to the MSCI World Small Cap Index, both expressed in sterling terms.
^ Being the exercise price for the purposes of the 2022 subscription rights.
† A final dividend of 0.64p is subject to approval by shareholders at the Annual General Meeting to be held on 1 September 2021.
▲ For definitions of the above Alternative Performance Measures please refer to the Glossary of Terms in the Annual Report & Accounts.
Strategic Report
Chairman’s Statement
It is with pleasure that I present the Annual Report and Accounts for the Jupiter Green Investment Trust PLC for the twelve months to 31 March 2021.
The quite extraordinary period covered by this report, capturing almost the entirety of the COVID-19 global pandemic to date, has understandably dominated investor’s thinking. A year ago, the world was plunged into the steepest economic contraction in decades, recovering hesitantly at times, and it was only the announcement of successful vaccine trials in November 2020 that gave investors more confidence in the future recovery. Even now, as millions of people across the world receive a vaccine every day, there are traumatic images and news stories from parts of the world still in the grip of the pandemic.
What is becoming clear, however, is that environmental solutions will be at the heart of recovery plans and key to a reinvigorated post-COVID economy. Not only does this represent an encouraging contrast to the years following the last major global crisis in 2008/9, but it also marks a very favourable long-term investment landscape for the company.
Europe, once again, appears to be taking the lead. On 16 September, the European Commission proposed reducing greenhouse gas emission by at least 55% by 2030 from 1990 levels, a hike on the 40% cut currently targeted. The European Union’s €750bn recovery package also has climate change at its heart, including investment in renewable energy, clean hydrogen, batteries and sustainable energy infrastructure. In the UK, Boris Johnson has pledged to help the country “build back better”, for example by investing in the infrastructure needed to build sufficient offshore wind farms to allow for the generation of enough electricity to power every home in the UK within a decade.
Meanwhile, the victory for Joe Biden in the US presidential election – and crucially also for the Democrats in Georgia’s Senate race, which gave them the narrowest of majorities across Congress – represents a return to the climate change policy fold for the US. The US has already returned to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, and President Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure and climate bill has profound implications for development on reducing carbon emissions, expanding sustainable housing and public transport.
In January 2021 the company was advised by the Investment Adviser, Jupiter Asset Management Limited, that Charlie Thomas, the fund manager of the company since 2006, would be leaving Jupiter to take on a new role. Further to this news, the board was pleased to announce that Jupiter fund manager Jon Wallace has been appointed to assume lead fund management responsibility for the company.
Jon is well known to the board, having worked closely with Charlie on the Trust since 2014 after joining Jupiter’s Environmental Solutions team in 2009. Jon has an in-depth knowledge of the portfolio, and a strong expertise in seeking out the key innovators in the green technology space. We look forward to working closely with him to continue to deliver an exciting and differentiated investment opportunity for our growing shareholder base.
The board would like to extend its thanks to Charlie for his commitment to the company and its shareholders over the past 14 years, and wishes him the very best for his new challenge.
I am also pleased to note that Jupiter has committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 across its full range of investments and operations, including your own company, reflecting the urgent need to limit global warming to less than 1.5 degrees C in line with the Paris Agreement. The Investment Adviser has also aligned its strategy, purpose and principles with the UN Global Compact such that all investment decision-making and engagement is guided by the principles of the UNGC and all investee companies are expected to abide by the Compact’s Ten Principles, committing to meeting fundamental responsibilities in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.
Investment performance
During the twelve months under review the total return on the net asset value of the company’s ordinary shares was 52.6%. This compares with an increase of 64.5% in the company’s share price and a 61.0% gain for the company’s new benchmark index, the MSCI World Small Cap Index.
As referenced in the interim report for this year, the change of benchmark was undertaken due to a shift in the investment focus of the company towards companies innovating to drive environmental solutions, many of which are classified as smaller companies. A review of the investment performance of the company over the course of the period, as well as further rationale on the adjustment in investment focus, is set out by Jon Wallace in the Investment Adviser’s Review.
Dividend
On 2 September 2020, the board released a statement to the London Stock Exchange in which we explained that the changes to the investment focus of the company and the increasing bias towards smaller, innovative, companies were likely to provide the potential for higher capital growth while reducing the level of dividend income available for distribution to shareholders. As a result of the changes in the investment focus, the board has taken the decision to establish a dividend policy that would result in paying one final dividend per annum in October each year equal to the current revenue of the company. A resolution to declare a final dividend of 0.64p per share (2020: 1.30p) will be proposed at the company’s Annual General Meeting (‘AGM’) on 1 September 2021. Subject to shareholder approval, the final dividend will be paid on 1 October 2021 to those shareholders on the register as at 17 September 2021.
Capital and Reserves
The board is mindful of the need to maintain a flexible approach to share buybacks in order to support the discount management policy. As at 31 March 2020, most of the capital of the company was held in a share premium account and was therefore not available for distribution to shareholders or for share buybacks.
The board obtained shareholder approval at the AGM on 16 September 2020 to cancel the balance on the share premium account of £29.7 million and to allocate this amount, less £16,275, to a distributable reserve account of the company in order to increase distributable reserves. These reserves can be used to make distributions by way of dividends to, or share buybacks from, shareholders. This is a common procedure employed by investment trust companies which has no impact on the net assets of the company. The cancellation of the share premium account was approved by Companies House with effect from 29 October 2020.
Shares in the company traded at a premium to net asset value for most of the period since October 2020 which allowed the directors to issue shares out of treasury to satisfy investor demand. The total amount raised throu